The overall purpose of strategic HR planning is to:

• Ensure adequate human resources to meet the strategic goals and operational plans of your organization – the right people with the right skills at the right time
• Keep up with social, economic, legislative and technological trends that impact on human resources in your area and in the sector
• Remain flexible so that your organization can manage change if the future is different than anticipated
• Strategic HR planning predicts the future HR management needs of the organization after analyzing the organization’s current human resources, the external labour market and the future HR environment that the organization will be operating in. The analysis of HR management issues external to the organization and developing scenarios about the future are what distinguishes strategic planning from operational planning.

The basic questions to be answered for strategic planning are:

• Where are we going?
• How will we develop HR strategies to successfully get there, given the circumstances?
• What skill sets do we need?